How Spinal Cord Stimulators Help Patients With Chronic Back Pain or Failed Back Surgery

If you’re one of the millions of Americans who live with chronic back pain or other effects of failed back surgery, you know what a toll they can take. Devoid of pain, illness, or injury, your spine and back allow you to move normally, guard against falls, and help ensure that you sleep well at night, making way for positive daytime energy.

Dr. William Yancey and his team are pleased to provide spinal cord stimulators for qualifying patients at Yancey Pain & Spine in Houston and The Woodlands, Texas. The revolutionary devices can help to reduce pain and improve your overall quality of life.

Spinal cord stimulation basics

Spinal cord stimulators are implanted devices that reduce pain when traditional treatments aren’t an option. By sending mild electrical impulses to your spinal cord, they mask pain and prevent pain signals from reaching your brain. 

Spinal cord stimulation can treat a variety of chronic pain conditions, including back pain that won’t let up and lingering pain related to a failed back surgery — also known as failed back surgery syndrome. While it’s typically used in tandem with other pain management treatments, spinal cord stimulation can reduce the need for pain medication while improving your sleep capabilities and quality of life.

Spinal cord stimulation for chronic back pain

Back pain that lasts longer than 12 weeks, even after the cause has been treated, is considered chronic. Further, about 20% of people who experience acute low back pain develop chronic symptoms within a year. 

Good candidates for spinal cord stimulation generally report at least 50% less chronic back pain thanks to the treatment. It can be paired with other common treatments for chronic pain, such as peripheral nerve field stimulation, or used on its own — with or without some amount of pain medication, depending on Dr. Yancey’s recommendations.

Spinal cord stimulation for failed back surgery

A failed back surgery means that you haven’t had successful results from spine or back surgery and continue to experience pain after healing from the procedure. This can happen for numerous reasons, one being that the lesion targeted in the surgery turns out not to be the root cause of your pain. 

A study published in Pain Research and Management showed that spinal cord stimulators can effectively improve posture and gait in people who’ve had a failed back surgery while minimizing pain.

To find your way out of chronic back pain or other problems related to failed back surgery, call our Houston or The Woodlands, Texas, office of Yancey Pain & Spine or request an appointment online. You can also send our team a message here on the website.

Dr. Yancey can help determine if you’re a good candidate for a spinal cord stimulator, as well as other treatments.